[WildMan279]

OK, so Here's the deal, I'm running windows XP media center edition with sp2 and there is only one user account (aside from the hidden administrator account, which I don't use)
after I leave my computer turned on for a while (the amount of time it takes varies, sometimes it is immediately, sometimes it takes several hours) I start getting a lot of weird error messages.
Right after I turn on the computer and everything boots up, it usually works fine, but then I will come back from somewhere, and I will try to start something, say Firefox. if the computer decides to screw up at this time, then I will get a variety of error messages. Usually when I try to start a new program, I will get a message that says
"firefox.exe the application failed to initialize properly 0xc000012d "
and it says the same thing if I press ctrl+alt+delete
but other times it will say "firefox.exe is not a valid windows image, please check it against your installation diskette"
or other times it will say "not enough quota is available to process this command"
if I already have an application open it will usually open, but sometimes I can't see text unless I scroll or highlight it and that still doesn't work sometimes.
or if I open an open file dialog, it will say something like "cannot access C:\ not enough quota available to process this command"
and on some other occasions, it will show the error boxes, but there is not any text in them, not in the title bar or the buttons either, or maybe there is one or two words, but not all of it.

anyways, it is all really inconsistent, except for two things, I always get the 0xc000012d (and it is always 12d, never any other memory address) message above, and when I click the shutdown button, the box appears and the buttons are there, but the background, which should be blue, is instead transparent (it shows the part of my desktop behind the box)
and then when the computer shuts down, instead of showing the welcome screen background and "windows is shutting down", it shows it in a dialog box, like it does on the computers at my school that run windows XP professional (I have media center edition, which I think is based on home edition)


I have attached a hijackthis log of my computer with no applications running
one note: qmc.exe is QuickMonth calendar, it is a little calendar program that I found in PC World (so I don't think that it is a virus)

i'm not sure if it is a virus problem, but because it looked like a windows problem, so I posted it here. if I need to repost it anywhere else tell me.

Thanks for any help that could fix this.

Edited by WildMan279, 31 March 2008 - 04:10 PM.

[Advertisements]

Welcome to Geeks2Go!, Wildman.

HijackThis logs should only be posted here in future: http://www.geekstogo...o-Here-f37.html

But don't worry this time, I'll inform the moderators and they'll pick it up from here.

In the meantime, other known causes of the '0xc000012d' error are:

1. Outdated or faulty graphics driver (update it)

2. Bad RAM (test it with 'Memtest86' from here: http://www.memtest86.com/ (click "Free download" link on left of page)

3. DirectX 'hotfix' from Microsoft causing it (just the 'hotfix, not DirecX itself!) -- remove hotfix->re-install hotfix if removal does not cure problem.
You'll find all hotfixes listed in "Add/Remove Programs" (make sure "Show updates" at top is ticked).

[pip22]

Welcome to Geeks2Go!, Wildman.

HijackThis logs should only be posted here in future: http://www.geekstogo...o-Here-f37.html

But don't worry this time, I'll inform the moderators and they'll pick it up from here.

In the meantime, other known causes of the '0xc000012d' error are:

1. Outdated or faulty graphics driver (update it)

2. Bad RAM (test it with 'Memtest86' from here: http://www.memtest86.com/ (click "Free download" link on left of page)

3. DirectX 'hotfix' from Microsoft causing it (just the 'hotfix, not DirecX itself!) -- remove hotfix->re-install hotfix if removal does not cure problem.
You'll find all hotfixes listed in "Add/Remove Programs" (make sure "Show updates" at top is ticked).

[WildMan279]

sorry for the delay, I was out of town over the weekend
anyways, I updated my nvidia graphics card drivers, and I ran the memtest thing and it said no errors
can you send me a link to the DirectX hotfix?
I didn't find directX in my add/remove programs box (with show updates ticked), so I downloaded and installed the "DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer" from the microsoft site. Is that all I need to do?

[WildMan279]

hello, is anyone there, my computer is still not working quite right.
well, here is what I have found out on my own (if there is anyone to read this)
I looked up the 0xc000012d error, and most of what I found said that it means you are running out of memory (even though I don't think that I was close to my computer's committ charge limite) so, I increased the ammount of virtual memory (I hav 1G of physical RAM, and the VM is 2048-4096)
this seemed to take care of the 12d error, but I still think that there is a graphics error of some sort.
Like I said before, I updated my NVIDIA graphics card drivers and I reinstalled directx, but couldn't find the hotfix (and I haven't got a link back for it yet)
the only problems that I am really getting now, is when the graphics objects on the screen dodn't paint right. sometimes text won't display in windows, the title bar, or sometimes the start menu button.
in microsoft office 2007, the objects that shoulb be painted at the bottom show up at the topof the window. now, the computer still works fine, it functions properly, it just isn't displaying things right.
And rebooting the computer fixes the problem (at least temporarily)
I have checked microsoft update, and have installed all of the updates.

[Ztruker]

See this recent post by John Hook: http://www.geekstogo...00#entry1207300

See if decreasing the Video Acceleration makes a difference.

[WildMan279]

OK, so I lowered the hardware acceleration by 2 notches (can do more if I have to)

and then I talked to a friend at school today and he has a completely different theory
he thinks that I have some program running in startup that is a virus or something. it runs in the background and basically functions as a huge memory leak (I think that he used the phrase "uncleared pointers")
this makes sense to me for a couple reasons:
1. the computer doesn't come up with weird errors immediately, it takes a while
2. if I have a program already open, it runs, just sometimes they don't display text right
3. if I close an open program, I am sometimes able to immediately open another one, but if I wait too long (a minute or two), it won't open (the virus has filled that piece of free memory)

I am in the process of disabling startup programs and services in different combinations to see if I can isolate the bad program
I will run all of the virus scans I have (Trend micro Internet security, Spybot S&D, and Ad-Adware SE personal)
should I repost this with a hijackthis log onto the malware removal forum?

(Entirely unrelated question to ztruker: I thought that the latin word 'cum' meant 'with' (and took the ablative case))

[Ztruker]

Re: Latin ... beats me, I just copied and pasted from a web site that has all these neat Latin phrases. Now, if by ablative case you mean Illegitimi Non Carborundum ...

Anyway, here is the G2G debugging 101 script. May be of some use to you.

Step 1

Start > Run, type
msconfig
<enter>

On the general tab, select SELECTIVE START UP then uncheck
load system.ini
load win.ini
load startup services
load startup items
Reboot.
Does the error repeat? If not, continue with the next part. If so, go to STEP 2.


If not, Start > Run, type
msconfig
<enter>

check load startup items
Reboot.
Does the error repeat? If not, continue with the next part. If so, go to STEP 2.


If not, Start > Run, type
msconfig
<enter>

check load startup services
Reboot.
Does the error repeat? If not, continue with the next part. If so, go to STEP 2.


If not, Start > Run, type
msconfig
<enter>

check load win.ini
Reboot.
Does the error repeat? If not, continue with the next part. If so, go to STEP 2.


If not, Start > Run, type
msconfig
<enter>

check load system.ini
Reboot.
Does the error repeat? If not, continue with the next part. If so, go to STEP 2.

Report back

-------------------------------------

STEP 2

When you find the error, repeating, you have arrived at the group that is causing the problem.

Leave everything as is and go to the tab with the same name as the one you just re-enabled and uncheck everything you find within the tab....reboot.

Does the problem recur? If not, check one item and reboot, continuing until you discover the offending application/service

[WildMan279]

OK, I haven't gone through every single one of the above combinations, but after some experimenting, I think that the problem is either my logitech mouse/keyboard software or my realtek HD audio stuff (the software, not the hardware)
when I kill these processes (ALCMTR.EXE, ALCWZRD, SOUNDMAN.EXE, setPoint.exe, and KHALMNPR.exe) the computer seems to start working
When I finish typing this response, I will try reinstalling the drivers/software for these items and see if that does the trick.

but the funny thing, when this problem started happening a couple months ago, I hadn't changed anything with my mouse/keyboard or audio services, so I don't know why they might be the problem.

or another couple things that I disabled in startup and don't know what they are: HDAudPropShortcut, hkcmd, kbd, ps2.exe, recguard
and there were also some HP processes that I don't think I need: hphmon06, hphupd06, hpsysdrv

and another question (this has never caused a problem before) what do iTumes helper and QuickTime task do besides run in the background and eat up memory? every time I have installed or updated iTunes I have just gone and disabled them, do they serve an actual purpose? (just for curiosity's sake, it doesn't cause any problems that I know of)

as usual I will report back on whether my attempted fix has actually fixed anything.

[WildMan279]

OK, well after having continued graphics problems, I decided to just plug my monitor into the onboard video on my computer and not use my graphics card at all (I don't really play many high performance 3D games, so quality doesn't really concern me).
with the onboard graphics and no logitech or realtek software, it seems to work fine. so I will slowly reenable some of my other background programs to see if it will work with them.

[Ztruker]

Okay, good luck. Please let un know how you make out.

[WildMan279]

well, with the reaktek software disabled, and ALL of the nvidia drivers/software uninstalled, my computer works normally. However, if I start to add more and more background programs, I start getting errors again. While searching for 0xc0000142 (which I get sometimes as well as 0xc000012d) I found this: http://www.tomshardw...erly-0xc0000142
when I get home from school, i'll try it and if that fixes stuff for good.

[Ztruker]

Interesting, I've heard that mentioned before, but no idea where.

On my computer, the value is set to: SharedSection=1024,3072,512

As always, before you make any changes to the registry, please back it up. An excellent way to do this is to install ERUNT. Let it add an entry to your Start menu during the install process. That will allow ERUNT to backup your registry each time you boot. It only takes a few seconds and has no real impact on boot time. Run ERUNT immediately after installing it to create a full registry backup.

Edited by Ztruker, 24 April 2008 - 06:14 PM.

[timothyjc]

was this resolved?
i have the same problem

[jeyragusa]

Hello Wildman,

I am having the exact same problem you describe and after days of fraustration, am unable to find any solution.

I ran a hardware diagnostics utility that is supplied with my Dell laptop. This utility informed me of a hard disk error (Error Code 2000-0146 - DST log contains previous errors). A web search for this error reveals that my Fujitsu 320 GB hard disk has gone bad and needs to be replaced. I also have a Fujitsu utility (along with many other third party ones) and none of these detect any problems with the hard drive. So, before I buy another drive, I plan to low level format the drive and reinstall the op system and software.

Prior to going through all that trouble, I just wanted to touch base with you to see IF you resolved this problem and if so how. Any post in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

[jeyragusa]

For the benefit of others who may be experiencing a similar problem, I post this update of my [mis]adventures with Billy's XP operating system.

Since my last post, I tried the sfc command. Help for using this command is here:
http://www.updatexp....cannow-sfc.html

As is normally the case with any Windows problem, I had to go through each and every problem (and then some) listed in this article. Apparently, I had bad dll files as sfc kept prompting me to insert the Windows XP SP3 disk. Even when I did, it often gave me an error saying "This is the wrong disk." So, I am sure I still have dll's that are corrupted and sfc was unable to replace. At the end of this excercise, the problem still persisted.

Yesterday, I purchased RegCure Registry Cleaner as suggested in the article below.

http://ezinearticles...0142&id=3450963

Had to run it 3-4 times, rebooting between each run to fix all registry problems (of which there were 1000+). Still, no joy.

I finally gave up and went to bed.

Today, however, the computer has been on for 6 hours without any problems. Normally, I would run in to problems within 3 hours at best, less than 1 hour, normally. So, fingers crossed, it seems the problem is fixed. Will report back if not.

Bottom line, I still do not know what fixed the problem. All I know is my next computer WILL NOT be running Billy boy's operating system. The amount of time you spend fixing problems and errors is just not worth it!

Edited by jeyragusa, 20 November 2010 - 08:35 AM.